


Good Game

by orphan_account



Category: 13 Reasons Why (TV)
Genre: M/M, Monty and Winston become unexpected friends, Pre Season 1, Set in Season 1, Side Ships, Underage Drinking, Underage Smoking, Winston is Bryce's family friend and stays the summer, monty is rewritten (not canon), more to be added but, nothing bad happens except the tapes, you get the gist
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:21:48
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26979505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Monty is bored with his friends leaving him out all summer until he becomes unexpected friends with someone who he is supposed to hate the most.-https://tellonym.me/wontyzalex
Relationships: Charlie St. George/Diego Torres (13 Reasons Why), Justin Foley/Diego Torres (13 Reasons Why), Montgomery de la Cruz/Winston Williams, Zach Dempsey/Alex Standall
Comments: 26
Kudos: 59





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Dominic Fike - Good Game

It was another hot day in Bryce’s backyard and yet the tension was the only thing that was making me sweat. 

It wasn’t exactly uncommon for me to be left out of the group’s plans or drama, not that I minded, but today I had been completely shoved aside.

Not even Scotty was helping to involve me. 

I found myself becoming well and truly fed up.

I was swimming around the shallow end of the pool, the guys sitting around on the side and on the steps of the pool.

It was me, Scott, Bryce, Zach, Alex and Justin and they're all speaking in hushed voices amongst themselves. 

“Scotty,” I nudge my shoulder against his leg when I see a quiet opportunity to do so, “come throw the ball or something.”

I was beyond bored that I would even put up with Scott’s disastrous catching skills for the next half an hour.

“Maybe later Monty” Scott shrugged me off and engaged himself once again in whatever Bryce was saying.

I try to hide my visible frown under my sunglasses, that technically are Bryces, but now I was pissed off. 

We weren’t even 2 weeks into our summer and the boys had already blown me off over a dozen times.

I wish Charlie was here, sure he was annoying and younger than us and even more clingy than Justin at times but at least he would have kept me company.

I mean I probably could have attempted to get involved in whatever boring shit they were talking about this time but like I said it was boring shit. 

Our summers used to be enjoyable, we would go to parties most nights and get high throughout the days but now the guys are too caught up in their own drama to even entertain the idea. 

The guys had this passive aggressiveness surrounding them all that had only seem to get worse over the past week. They all seemed to have something they wanted to say to one another but were too scared to do so but if I had a problem with someone I would just come out and say it. 

I don’t know why they are being such pussys about it. 

I also couldn't wrap my head around why Bryce was involved in whatever this was, the Bryce I knew would have dealt with this shit straight away. Just like he had dealt with my shit all these years.

I hated the way that I relied on him so much but, man, I owe him a lot.

I swim to the other side of the pool and climb out of the deep end, heading into the pool house. If they aren’t going to help me have any fun ill have to find another source of entertainment. 

I slide the glass doors open and make my way to the long wood cabinets lining the walls, riffling through the drawers until I find a baggy of weed and a pipe. 

I find myself sighing in relief as I swing myself around the back of the couch and land with a thud. 

I don’t get the chance to do any of this shit at home, not with my dad breathing down my neck twenty-four-seven, so Bryce’s place is the only place I can truly let myself relax. 

Summer is also the only time I have an excuse to be out all the time, yet it doesn't stop my phone going off every hour with a check-in, and not the good kind. 

Calls and texts from my dad are never the good kind and I have to lie every time I speak to him. Sí, hay muchas chicas aquí. No, no son solo chicos.

If only he knew.

I set the pipe up, spark it with a yellow lighter on the table which I know is Justins, and begin smoking. 

I decide to pocket the lighter just to spite him. 

When I'm reasonably high enough I pick myself up from the couch and wander around the pool house for a little bit longer before stumbling out into the sun again. 

I scoff when I realise that the boys didn’t even notice, or seem to care, that I was gone. God Monty, stop being such a whiney bitch.

I spot Diego and Charlie sitting with them now and smile to myself as I head over, at least now I’ll have someone to talk to. 

Charlie isn’t one to get too involved in drama so I’m hoping me and him can hang out for the next couple of hours before I seriously consider drowning myself in the hot tub. 

Diego shouts over as he notices me approaching and I suddenly feel a lot more stoned and slightly better about myself. 

At least someone wants me here.

He and Charlie are sitting too close on one of the sunbeds with their legs touching and I try my best to ignore it as I sit on the one opposite them, next to Bryce.

“Hey man, what's up?” Charlie is leaning over to me excitedly and beaming like a newborn puppy. I swear that kid is always smiling.

I can’t knock his enthusiasm though as It's an admirable change from the cold atmosphere that has been hanging around for the past couple days. I then begin to wonder where Charlie has actually been up until now.

“Nothing much apart from the guys being boring as shit,” I’m smiling too and now I really am glad that Charlie is here. 

The guys have gone quieter now and are looking at me as if I’ve said the wrong thing or something. I’m so confused as to what’s going on but I’m too annoyed to even bother asking.

“Shut up Monty,” Bryce shoves my shoulder and seems to be in a slightly chirpier mood, “just because we aren’t telling you shit.”

“Yeah, that’s exactly why,” I tell him, looking at him coldly before focusing my attention on my hands. I can't deal with being emotional in front of him.

I sigh and stand up from my chair, almost demanding Charlie comes and plays catch with me in the pool. He cheerfully agrees and Diego follows him. 

God bless Charlie St. George.

-

It was just passing four in the afternoon and I had finally convinced the rest of the guys to join us in the pool.

I put up with playing with Diego and Charlie for about twenty minutes but soon got tired of playing the third wheel and trying to pry them off each other every other round.

I remember the days when I was the one who Charlie used to follow around like a lost puppy but I guess Diego is filling that role fine enough. I refuse to admit that it’s quite cute.

Scott joined in shortly with enough begging for me and Zach spent far too long trying to convince Alex to actually take his t-shirt off, which I’m sure belonged to Zach anyway, and get into the damn pool.

Soon enough we were all gathered in a circle tossing a ball around far too aggressively and actually having a laugh together. It felt exactly like summer should and I began to let my worries subside. This would be fine.

We spend another hour playing a game of chicken, Alex on Zach’s shoulders with ease and Scotty on mine, with perhaps less ease, and they began trying to push each other off. 

We actually had fun, well at least I did anyway.

I’m silently praying this sticks around and the guys don’t begin getting caught up in their own shit again, otherwise, I’ll have to spend the entire summer lonely.

We stopped playing around a while ago and instead are gathered in the circle talking until Bryce interrupts the current conversation. 

“Hey, guys so Winston is coming tomorrow,”

Everyone makes a sound of approval as if they know what’s going on but I’m just stood there frowning in confusion.

“Who?” I look around the group to see if anyone else is as baffled as me but they all just begin laughing.

“Damn Montgomery you say we don’t tell you shit but maybe you just don’t listen,” Bryce tells me and begins smiling along with the rest of them. I don’t understand the joke.

“Who the fuck is Winston?” I pout, I know he's not one of Bryce's family members because I've practically me them all already. Stuck up assholes.

“Dude,” Zach says from across the group. “Bryce’s family friend, he told us he was staying the summer like last week.”

The laughter has subsided now and everyone continues talking amongst themselves as if it doesn’t matter, I mean, it doesn’t but I just didn’t know.

“Wheres he gonna stay?” I question Bryce once everyone has settled off into their own smaller groups and he’s now looking down at me from the side of the pool where he's sitting.

“In the pool house, I think,” he says as if its the most obvious thing in the world. “his folks want him gone for the summer, I can’t remember why.”

“But I always stay in the pool house,” I attempt to remind him but it doesn’t really seem to care.

“Well then, just go home,” he shrugs as he gets up from the side of the pool and shakes the water out of his hair. 

I can't tell whether he's kidding or not.

“You know I can’t really do that,” I say, trying to make him understand that I absolutely do not want to spend the next six weeks stuck inside with my alcoholic father, doing it during the school year is enough for me.

“You can,” Bryce mocks. “You just don’t want to.”

My face falls and I feel a sudden pang of rejection from someone who I’ve called my best friend for the past four years. 

I think Bryce notices the expression on my face, as I wasn't exactly subtle, and he crouches down by the side of the pool so he can come closer to speak to me.

“Look I don’t know, dude, why don’t you both just stay in there? Winstons not too bad” 

He then gets up and walks away towards the rest of the guys and I give myself a moment before joining them as well. 

Winston, I laugh to myself, what sort of stupid name is that.

I don't even know who this guy is and now I have to spend the summer sleeping in the same room as him? No thank you.

For all, I know he could be a serial killer or a fag, yet I weigh up my options and decide that spending a summer with a gay axe murderer may even be a better decision than being with my dad. 

I guess I will have to see what he's like.


	2. Chapter 2

I attempted to prolong my last night alone in the pool house for as long as possible, spending the next morning stretched out on the sofa bed while listening to sounds fo the guys already out in the water.

I didn’t know how long this Winston kid would be staying with Bryce, I didn’t even care to ask, but all I knew was it would be far too long for my liking.

This was my sanctuary, I could get away from my dad, the guys and most of all Bryce. Sure, it was his place but sometimes being around Bryce and his family and his expensive lifestyle could become a bit overwhelming for me. 

It wasn’t exactly jealousy, I was fine with having money, what I envied was the freedom he had in his own home. I can’t imagine ever having anything like that, feeling safe and at home with my own family. 

Estela was an exception, I guess. We had never been close but I felt protective over her, you know? I had to look after her because no one else would. No one looked after me, no one looked after her, so we looked out for each other.

She could be fun too, on the nights where dad would pass out upstairs for once we would steal a few hours in front of the tv. It was nice, even if she did make me watch some bullshit chick flick. 

I was snapped out of my thoughts when I hear a gentle knock on the door of the pool house. I mutter for them to come in and stand up from the sofa, heading in the direction of the unknown person.

Charlie.

He stands there smiling, clad in his red swim shorts and an equally bright smile plastered across his face. God, he is something.

I approach him, already dressed to go out to the pool and he directs me out with his hand on my back and begins talking about his plans for the day.

I’m not exactly listening but my skin feels warm under his touch and I look up at him, he’s quite a fair bit taller than me and I try to let that not bother me. I don’t like feeling small but it’s hard when I’m around all the guys.

Everyone gathered around one of the chairs, well, around a guy. 

I find myself unable to even say anything about it, Charlie continues to talk excitedly next to me.

“Oh, there he is,” Charlie exclaims to my side. “Winston!”

Oh, so that’s him.

Now he has my full attention. 

He’s sitting on one of the lounge chairs fully dressed unlike the rest of the guys, dressed sharply in denim shorts and a blue polo. Expensive.

What else did I expect? He is Bryce’s friend after all.

Except he doesn’t look like Bryce, or any of his friends, or any of us.

He has dark hair cut shortly to curl over his forehead, his face tanned from the sun of the summer. I’m too far away to work out what his eyes look like. Fuck, why do I even care?

I attempt to turn my attention onto Charlie as we continue to walk toward the group, Winston’s eyes following us until we are sat with the group.

“Took you long enough, Monty!” Bryce hits my shoulder and begins to get up off his deck chair, picking a bag up to the side of him.

I shrug and look anywhere but at the new boy, I’m the last one here and I don’t exactly want to draw any unneeded attention to myself.

“Winston come, I’ll show you where you’re staying.” He then orders him like a dog and I can already sense what’s going on here, Winston seems to be another kid Bryce thinks he can boss around. I know that feeling all too well.

I look up and Winston looks awkward but smiles regardless, uttering a few goodbyes to us and then his eyes meet mine. Hazel. They are Hazel.

-

After a little too long in the pool house, not that anyone else noticed, Bryce and Winston, reappear. I’ll have to get used to his name. Winston.

They are laughing about something or another and Winston is now wearing swim shorts like the rest of us. Great, looks like he’s staying the day.

His shorts are red like Charlies but shorter. He’s skinny but the rest of his body is fairly tanned like his face and I can’t work out from my position in the pool how tall he is.

I hope he isn’t taller than me, not that it would be a surprise. I’m pretty sure most of the guys are taller than me nowadays. 

He splits off from Bryce and makes his way over to Alex and Zach who are flirting on the side of the pool. No matter how much I tease and question them, they claim nothing is going on. Yeah, sure. 

Winston approaches them and is greeted by a shy smile from Alex and a clap on the back from Zach. How has he gotten so close to them already? I don’t even know how long he has been here, I only slept in till twelve. 

Zach’s hand lingers on Winston for a bit longer before they all sit down together and I don’t miss the way Alex’s eyebrows furrow on his face. That’s enough to answer all my questions. 

I watch them for a bit longer, Winston easily fitting in with them and laughing along at whatever stupid thing Zach is explaining and joining in with Alex’s teasing. I don’t even know what his voice sounds like yet here he is being all buddy with my friends. Whatever.

-

I spend the rest of the day promptly ignoring him, not that I have a problem with him, not yet, but our paths simply don’t cross.

Me, Charlie and Diego split off into our little group for most of the afternoon, messing around and taking it in turns to dunk each other into the deep end of the pool. 

Aside from Bryce, I would consider Charlie and Diego to be my closest friends in the group, along with Scott. 

Scott isn’t here today, making up some bullshit excuse about a girl. I try hard to not think about it too much but things haven’t been the same with me and Scott lately, not since the end of school last year.

We got high on the last day and he ended up trying to kiss me. Or I tried to kiss him. Or whatever. It only lasted half a second before we both pulled away and ended up laughing the whole thing off.

I went home, cried and punched my only clean wall, fearing that I messed our friendship up for good. I didn’t think I had but now I’m not too sure. 

I kinda just miss him hanging around so much, that usually happens when I don’t see people for a while.

Take Standall for example, I and him have never been close or anything but he spent the first week of summer at his grandparent’s house and none of us saw him the whole time. I hate to admit it, but I missed the guy.

Not as much as Zach missed him though, I was mainly hoping Alex would come back quick so Zach would stop talking about him every waking minute of the day and take him off our hands. 

He would either spend the whole day on his phone texting or calling the blonde boy or he would be sulking around feeling sorry for himself. We all got bored with it by the end and couldn’t be happier when Alex came back.

Speaking of those two, Winston seemed to stick by their side for most of the day and didn’t seem to mind third-wheeling for the most part. 

Everyone was being super friendly toward him and I felt an asshole for not even having said a word to him and then the dread sunk in that I’m going to be sharing a room with him. If it’s too awkward I’ll just have to walk home and face the consequence of waking my family up at god knows what hour.

-

Around sixish, we all get out of the pool and gather around the grill in Bryces garden and he cooks for us all, me and Zach taking friendly competition in seeing who can eat the most. 

The guys around us, even Winston are laughing and cheering us on and I feel a lot more confident than I did around him earlier.

I glance over to him and he’s not eating much but doesn’t make it obvious, instead, he offers his leftovers out and I gladly take them. I swear I don’t stop eating.

He passes his paper plate over to me and his fingers graze my knuckle slightly and he offers me a genuine smile. He’s got a nice smile. 

I grin and look away from him quickly and turn my attention back to Diego who is passing out beers amongst the group. Him, Zach and Bryce are always able to get served somehow. It’s the confidence and charm I assume. 

Justin snatches up the first beer and passes one to me, I clink mine with him and pop it open with my teeth.

“What the fuck,” Winston says across from me, we are sitting on opposite chairs and the smoke from the grill is blowing between us.

“What?” I raise my eyebrows at him, taking the first swig of my beer and maintaining eye contact with him. 

His hair is still wet and sticking to his forehead but it’s curlier now than before. Not super curly like Diego’s but it suits him. 

“You just did that,” He starts with wide eyes, nodding toward my bottle, “with your teeth.”

I grin at him, wider than earlier and nod simply across to him and reach for his bottle. He passes it to me and I can’t help but notice that our fingers touch again.

I open his bottle with my teeth, spit the cap to the side and pass it back to him with a smile. Why am I smiling?

He takes it from me, our fingers touching once again, and he thanks me with a nod of his head.

Bryce catches his attention for something and like that our conversation is over. Our only conversation of the night and it’s over. I didn’t even try and figure out what he sounded like and I’m not sure why I want to know so badly but he’s new.

I know all the boys here like the back of my hand and when someone else joins the group, not that he has, I want to work out exactly who they are, even if that does mean knowing what they sound like. It’s not that weird. 

-

We stay up drinking until around eleven when all the boys start piling out one by one. Alex and Zach are the first to go.

Alex leans into Zach’s side and whispers up to say something to his ear, no one but Charlie can hear him by the looks on his blushed face. They end up making some bullshit excuse that Alex’s mom wants them both home and then they are off in a matter of seconds, Alex wrapped up in Zach’s hoodie and with an arm slung over his shoulder.

Now I’m convinced they are fucking. 

Diego stumbles out shortly after that, having had one too many beers and Charlie follows him once again, like a lost puppy. 

It’s now just me, Bryce, Winston and Justin sat around the firepit we had made with the grill and Winston is yawning across from me.

Our swimsuits had dried throughout the day and he’s now wearing a black hoodie on top of it. It also looks expensive, yet he doesn’t act like the sort who throws his money around.

I’ve had another handful of conversations with him tonight but none of them ended again in our fingers brushing against each other again. I was going to ask him if he wanted me to open his bottle for him again but I pussied out. What can I say? I like to show off my party trick. 

Bryce and Justin invite us in to go and play video games in the actual house and I’m following them when Winston declines and says he’s too tired.

Bryce nods over to him, shouts a goodnight and races Justin into the house.

I spend a second contemplating who to follow but I end up going with the safe option, I follow Bryce.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sorry i didnt have time to edit it so if there's any mistakes please ignore hahaha

It took me over 2 hours of playing video games with Bryce and Justin to build up the courage to go back into the pool house.

I didn’t know why I was so nervous, I was never nervous. 

With much convincing and teasing from both boys, they both pushed me back out into the garden and in the direction of the pool house.

“Just go to bed, Monty” Bryce sighed, obviously just as tired as me.

“What if I wake him up?” 

“Since when have you cared about that shit?” There's a smirk on Bryce’s face now as he closes to back door to his house and I am alone by the pool.

Apparently, he told Winston earlier that I will also be staying in the pool house with him and he had no issue with the matter, which I found weird because my first reaction would be to kick up a fuss. 

It’s 1 am and I know he’s probably asleep by now, like any normal human, so I should just go in there and do the same instead of putting it off by staring into the blue of the pool.

After a few minutes, I carry myself reluctantly over to the house and open the doors as quietly as I can and I find that he’s awake.

Not just awake, he’s sat on the pull out sofa with his eyes fixated on whatever cartoon is playing on the TV. He has sunglasses on and he’s shirtless once again. This is weird.

I knock the wall by the side of the door to get his attention and he looks at me slowly and I am met with a bright smile and he moves up for me to sit next to him. Wow, this guy is forward.

“Hey,” he says and his eyes are back on the TV, from behind his sunglasses. Well, they are actually my sunglasses I realise and I try not to let it bother me but for some reason, it doesn’t.

I hum in response and land next to him on the couch with a thud and he doesn’t even flinch. What is wrong with this guy?

I watch the mediocre cartoon with him for some time, he begins laughing at the most unfunny shit ever and I turn to look at him ridiculously.

“Are you-” I begin and then he’s meeting my gaze and pulling the sunglasses down to reveal his bloodshot and hazed eyes. Oh.

He’s high.

I can’t say that I wouldn’t be doing the same in his position, Bryce has a lot of weed in this place and he rarely notices when it goes missing so what harm can it do.

Now, Winston, I wouldn’t have guessed he was the type but then again I don’t really know him at all.

I raise my eyebrows at him in an impressed way and he takes the glasses off fully, obviously finding no need for them any longer and he tosses them in my direction.

“I’m guessing they’re yours,” he smiles at me softly and his voice is deep, far deeper than mine and maybe even more so from all the smoking he’s been doing. 

His voice throws me off a little bit and I manage to fumble with the glasses and drop them onto the couch, he laughs at me and rubs at his eyes.

This guy is very high and if I were high right now too I would feel a lot better about noticing again how nice his smile is. His teeth are white and perfectly straight, how is that fair?

He’s a pair of grey socks on and black shorts and the blankets pool around his knees, not really covering him at all. I’m still wearing just my swim shorts from earlier so I head over to where I keep my clothes and pull a pair of socks on. It’s getting kinda cold.

When I come back to the couch he is leaning over one armrest, he’s not as skinny as I thought initially but you can definitely see some outline of his ribs. I feel like I need to look away for some reason.

He returns to his sitting position with the same pipe in his hand which I had been using for the past couple of weeks and offers it to me.

Well, I did say things would be better if I was high too. 

I take it from him, making sure now that our fingers touch again before lighting up and smoking beside him.

He’s watching me the entire time with a dazed expression on his face and he’s not looking away, not even back to the TV.

It makes me nervous again and I quickly pass it back to him. Our eyes meet and I get even more nervous when he still doesn’t look away so I do instead, watching the cartoons playing out in front of me.

I hear him spark a lighter by the side of me and I don’t dare look back at him, my stomach is twisted in knots for some reason. 

This skinny, rich kid is sat in my bed and I’m the nervous one? Oh, wait. That doesn’t exactly sound right.

It’s not technically my bed, it’s not really a bed at all but I’ve considered it as much for as long as I can remember. 

And well, Winston, he doesn’t seem too bad but I can’t help but feel a bit nervous around him. Maybe I’ve got a bad feeling about him being trouble. Yeah, that’s why. 

I turn to him at the last second to see the smoke billowing out from his lips and the pipe held loosely in his hand. His hands are bigger, probably bigger than any of the other guys and that’s when I start thinking maybe he is tall, I still hadn’t had a chance to work it out.

I see the pipe slipping from between his long fingers and I reach over and steady it, practically resting my own hand in his and he looks over at me with squinted eyes and an unreadable expression plastered over his pretty face.

Holy shit, I just called this stranger pretty.

Maybe this weed is too strong.

“Thanks,” he rasps out, smoke blowing in between both our faces and I shrug handing the pipe back to him properly. 

“I didn’t take you for a smoker,” I question him, leaning back into my side of the couch. Well, I guess it’s my side from now on because he’s obviously claimed the one he’s on.

“I mainly used to sell it,” Winston says, taking another inhale on the pipe with ease and blowing the smoke back up into his nose. His nose looks like Alex Standall’s but it suits him better. 

“You were a drug dealer?” I scoff at him, sure I know rich kids are dealers, take Bryce for example, but this kid? No way.

“Oh yeah, it’s kinda why I got expelled and my parents sent me here for the summer,” he says, offering the pipe back to me with big hands and again, another unreadable face.

“Holy shit,” I breathe out, taking the pipe from him again and resting it in my lap for a second. “You got expelled?”

“Yeah, not my proudest moment.” He sighs but he doesn’t seem too upset, there’s a hint of a smirk on his lips. 

I snap my eyes away from his lips and smoke my final few drags on the pipe before handing it back to him, he places it back over his side on the floor and I don’t miss the way the pool light from outside catches his skin. 

The pool house is almost completely dark apart from the TV’s reflection and the light from the pool dancing across the walls. It’s weirdly comforting.

“Why did your parents kick you out?” I ask him, not wanting the conversation to end. I’m learning things about this boy I did not expect in the slightest. 

It’s hard to believe that anyone other than me has a tough family life but I guess it happens. Maybe I’m asking to compare situations, make myself feel either worse or better about myself.

“Yeah my older brother convinced them too,” he rolls his eyes and that’s what confuses me.

At home it’s almost like it’s me and Estela against the world, we aren’t close in a conventional sibling way but I would do anything for that girl and I know she would do the same. I can’t imagine ratting her out to my dad or her doing the same. 

I frown at him, as if prompting for him to go on and he settles further into his couch, but closer to me this time.

“The school called home and my brother Will picked up,” he says and there’s frustration clear in his voice, “I begged him to cover for me and tell them there was another reason I got kicked out but well, he’s an asshole.”

I’m looking at him now, his face is pulled tight in anger and I want to lean forward and physically pull his frown apart, it doesn’t suit his face.

“They think Bryce and his family will be good for me, some time with their perfect son but I mean,” he motions to around the room with a laugh. “He’s just as bad as me.”

I laugh at that too, how can Bryce’s parents be so oblivious to what really goes on in his life. Maybe they know and just don’t care. Wouldnt that be nice?

“So he just snitched on you?” I look toward him now, he’s fiddling with his hands and maybe this is a tough subject for him. He’s pretty hard to read. 

“Yep,” he clasps his hands together and looks up at me instead. “As I said, he’s an asshole.”

He’s not frowning anymore, his face is pretty calm and his features look softer again. This suits him a lot better. 

“Sounds like it,” I whisper to him, it’s gone suddenly quieter now in the room as the cartoon has finished playing in the background. 

We continue talking for another half hour, he tells me more about his brother reluctantly and all the shitty things he had done to him over the years and I have to admit that I feel bad for the kid. 

I feel bad for him and I’m the one who gets beat at home, that’s saying something huh? 

He tells me that WIll is his only brother and how he’s the families golden boy, got a scholarship to some fancy school and is leaving at the end of the summer. Winston seems more relieved than sad.

Although I try to spend the least amount of time at home during the summer, I would hate to leave Estela full time.

I only feel okay leaving home during the summer because she goes and vacations with my mom in the Philippines all summer, something I haven’t been invited to in years. 

I’m ‘too much trouble’ according to my mom, yeah whatever.

Like I would want to spend time with someone who left her two kids with their abusive father, no thank you.

Estela tried to convince my mum to let me come this summer, she knows how bad Dad has been getting recently but I just told her not to bother. I would rather spend it here with the guys. 

I avoid talking about my family with Winston as much as possible, I tell him about Estela and that’s about it. I think he can tell that I would rather not talk about it so he drops it and moves the subject back onto himself, which I don’t mind. 

We bond over the fact that we are both “life long C students” as he puts it and has no real academical aspirations for the future. He wants to take photos, which I try not to laugh too hard at, and I want to do football, even if that is the long shot. 

“Why is it a long shot?” He asks me, pulling his black hoodie back over his head as the air turns crisper as we go later into the night.

“I’m not too bad at football but I wouldn’t be able to pay for college,” I shrug. “And like I said, I don’t exactly have the grades for a scholarship.”

“You never know, you have a while to get your grades up,” he’s laying down now and looking up at me through long, dark eyelashes. I look down at my hands instead.

“I guess,” I lay down too, not close to him but next to him. It’s a pretty big pullout. “I only ever get A’s in Spanish and Math, I suck at everything else.”

“Spanish?” He raises his eyebrows at me, I can’t tell whether he’s amused or impressed. I try not to think about the way he looked at me too hard. 

He’s been looking at me a lot of ways tonight and It’s easier to not think about it, especially as I only just met him.

“Yeah, it’s kind of like, my first language,” I say as if its the most obvious thing in the world, which to me, it is.

“Oh,” he says and now he’s the one looking away from me with a slight blush to his cheeks which I can’t work out.

“What?” I ask him.

“Oh nothing,” he smiles more to himself than me. This kid is so hard to read. 

He throws his arms up in a yawn, still with a smile on the face and settles more comfortably on the bed.

“I’m tired,” he says simply as if that’s something I needed to know about, but now I think about it I feel kind of tired too.

“Go to sleep then,” I sigh as I settle on my back, looking up at the ceiling and he lays beside me on his side, facing me.

“Hmm, turn the TV off.” he hums at me.

I look at him and his eyes are closed and his lips still turned up in a slight smile.

I turn the TV off with the remote, toss it to the floor and I hear him mutter a ‘goodnight’ before turning to face the other side.

I feel disappointed.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Zachs POV** _

It only takes Alex five minutes to convince me to take him home and even less to convince me to give him my hoodie.

Well, _technically_ , I had to convince him to even take my hoodie in the first place, he’s just too damn proud to admit he’s cold. 

We’ve been drinking out in Bryce’s yard for the past couple of hours with the new kid Winston, I think he’s pretty cool. 

I think Alex likes him too which is nice, ever since I brought Alex into the group he kind of prefers to stick by my side most of the time. Not that I mind, at all, but I like to see him getting on with the other guys too. 

He and Justin have a love-hate type of friendship, mainly due to Justin’s thing with Jessica Davis, Alex’s best friend, but I would say they are quite close nowadays. 

Jess is the whole reason I built up the courage to start talking to Alex in the first place, he was new in school and I was getting pretty sick of feeling like an outcast in my group of friends so I decided to take the chance. 

Alex and Jess had been friends from the start of last year, joint at the hip but never romantically involved, which would kind of been hard to imagine when I found out Alex was gay. 

It was tough, I’ll admit, reassuring Alex that anytime I spoke to him I was being serious and not on “some dare from the stupid football team” as he liked to put it. He shot me down many times before he agreed to evem let me hang out with him. 

I really liked him. He was difficult and funny and I _liked_ him. 

Right now, he was leaning into my side, his nose burnt red from the sun that had long set and his hands were fiddling with the drawstrings of my hoodie.

“I might go home,” Alex yawns into my side before straightening himself beside me, leaving my side cold. 

“Okay, I’ll come with you,” I say out of habit. It was natural for me to follow Alex home and spend the night there, it felt almost like second nature.

“Hey, this doesn’t mean I’m gonna put out or anything,” he smirks at me under the flickering of the flames to the side of us. He looked really cute with a burnt nose, I decided, no matter how many times I tried to convince him to put sunscreen on. 

“Yeah, yeah.” I joke back at him and stand, outstretching my hand for him to grab and then I pull him to his feet. 

We mutter some half-hearted goodbyes to the rest of the guys but it’s late and they don’t seem too bothered about us leaving at short notice. 

We walk the short distance to Bryces back gate and make our way to the Standall’s house. 

Alex is slightly stumbling by the side of me, his walk wavering from the beers we shared tonight. He always has been a lightweight.

He was drunk the very first time I saw him. It was at a party, right back at the start of the year, and he was dancing with Jess and Hannah. 

He was obviously the drunkest out of them all, the girls having to hold him up by his arms but they were laughing along with him regardless. They looked like they were having so much fun.

Sure, the guys were a good time, but I felt so sidelined by them sometimes. It felt like the only things they ever had in common were football, baseball, basketball and girls, and whilst I was a participant in all four of those things it got so boring after a while. 

There were no deeper conversations, no meaning behind the “I love you bro”’s and there was no real trust between us. This “brotherhood” that Bryce talked of was nothing but a front most of the time. I loved them all but they were fake.

Justin is the closest I have to real friendship besides Alex, we have known each other since the start of high school and he’s the only one I feel has never judged me for not exactly fitting in as much as I should have, because, in all honesty, he didn’t either. 

Justin was the one who convinced me to join the basketball team and for that, I owe him my life. I never found my confidence before high school sports and the girls that came with it and if I’m honest, I’m still not completely there. 

I’m definitely not completely there with Alex, out of all the dates I’ve been on and girls I’ve hung out with, no one makes me stumble over my words quite like Alex Standall does. 

I stumble over my words and even over my two fucking feet when I’m around that boy. He’s so honest, something I can’t say I’ve ever experienced much of in my friendship group or at home, and it’s refreshing. It’s _new_ and _nice_ but scary. 

He’s so unlike anyone i’ve liked before, and not just because he’s a guy. 

We’re almost at his house and he’s gripping onto one of my arms with both his hands, fingers curled tightly around my bicep and it feels so intimate though it probably shouldn’t. 

He’s giggly and rambling more than me, which is something he only ever does when he’s drunk or sleepy and my guess is that he’s both.

“What do you think of that new Winston kid?” I ask him, waiting for him at the bottom of his driveway as he crouches down to tie his shoelaces, which I dont see the point of as he will only be taking them off in five minutes.

“He’s alright,” Alex trails off, seemingly in less of a good mood all of a sudden and my heart drops at the thought that I may of said the wrong thing. 

“What, don’t you like him?” I finish tying his second lace and stand up, looking down on him and he looks so small wrapped up in my hoodie. He has the hood thrown up over his blonde hair and slightly hanging forward to cover his eyes.

I lean forward to push the hood back slightly as I wait for his response. He hiccups in between breathes and we both laugh.

“I dunno, you sure seemed to like him.” He rolls his eyes at me and steps away, half serious and half teasing as he makes his way up his drive.

“What?” I call out to him, careful not to be too loud and follow quickly after him.

He can’t be jealous, surely?

We reach the front door and I look at him expectantly, waiting for some sort of explanation but all he does is roll his eyes again and shove his keys into the front door.

I know better than to push him for an answer and I don’t really he’s being serious anyway.

I mean, Winston? I hadn’t even given the kid a second glance. Havent really given anyone a second glance since I met Alex and I dont plan on doing so anytime soon. 

He pushes the door open and stumbles in louder than usual, I grip him by the shoulders and pull him up straight and press a hand to his mouth to muffle his laughter. 

I close the door carefully behind him and kick off my shoes by the mail on the floor. 

It’s unike Alex to be this careless and loud, usually that’s my job, but as I said, he’s drunk. 

He doesn’t wait for me before he begins climbing up the stairs and I make sure the door is locked and his keys placed somewhere safe before I follow after him, finding my way through the darkness with ease. 

When I get into Alex’s room he’s already laying on his bed, on top of the covers and facing the ceiling. My hoodie has risen slightly and his lower stomach is exposed.

I drop down beside him and lay on my side, watching him tentatively. I realise now that his eyes are actually closed, long eyelashes combing over his cheeks. 

He’s still as beautifully pale as ever, I don’t even think all the sun in the world would be able to tan his skin. The thought makes me chuckle.

His hands lay loosely by his sides and I can’t decide whether I should get his attention or let him lay there for a bit longer, he seems tired.

I still haven’t plucked up the courage to kiss him, and everytime I come close I make up some sort of excuse.

Tonights excuses are 1. He’s drunk and 2. He’s tired, and in fairness they are pretty reasonable excuses so I don’t get too mad at myself. 

I watch him for a while longer before deciding to shake him awake, he’s laying too far down on the bed so his legs are hanging off the edge and I’m not gonna let him stay like that all night. Plus, I really want to talk to him some more.

“Hmm?” He grumbles out when I begin shaking him, turning his head to face me but not yet opening his eyes.

“Your hanging off the bed Al,” I whisper to him. The only light in the room is coming from the green lava lamp on his bedside table and the TV he must of turned on just before I came in here.

“Come on.” I encourage him and he sits up with a groan, rubbing his eyes with the edges of his sleeves and scooches up to the headboard. 

I get off the bed, shut the bedroom door fully and come over to join him. We are both sitting up but under the blankets now. It’s warmer this way.

Alex looks tired but he suggests we watch a movie anyway as it’s only early. 

I let him pick what we watch because he knows far more movies than me, even if they are weird, and I sit there and enjoy them anyway.

I enjoy them because Alex chose them and he always ends up talking passionately about the film halfway through and I like listening to his voice. 

I like listening to him talk about the things he enjoys.

I’ve even started tolerating horror movies because of him.

Yet, as I watch him yawn from beside me, I can’t imagine he is up for much talking tonight. 

He puts on some movie I don’t ask the title of before he rubs his eyes again and lays himself down further into the bed, turning slightly so his body is facing mine but his face to the TV.

No matter how many times this happens, I always feel nerves creeping up on me as we get later into the night and end up drifting closer together in the bed. 

Tonight is no exception.

He tilts his head to lean closer to him on the pillow that we always end up sharing, his hood is down now and his hair is white and ever so slightly damp and tickling my forehead.

I breathe him in and let my legs find his under the weight of the duvet as we let the movie play out and fall asleep. 

  
  


  
  



	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> winstons pov of his first day

Winston’s POV

It's my first night staying at Bryces and I wake up with a pain in my neck. I slept on my awkward side and now I guess I’m paying for it. 

It was either that or sleep facing the boy beside me, and that was in no way an option. 

I only met Monty yesterday at the pool and he was one of the guys who caught my eyes immediately, but I’m not going to creep him out by staring at him all night. 

It was him, Zach and Diego who caught my eye yesterday, what can I say, I have a thing for guys who look like they could crush me with one hand. 

I had only really had a chance to speak to Zach yesterday, before speaking to Monty last night, but he seems very much unavailable. 

He only had to put a friendly hand on my shoulder and I had that Alex kid staring daggers right into the side of my head. I got the message right away. 

He wasn’t bad either, Alex, not my type at all but he was nice to get along with and him and Zach made me feel really welcome. (As long as I didn’t stand or sit too near Zach that is.)

I spent the day sort of clinging to those two, slightly too nervous to branch out and speak to the other guys even though they seemed sweet enough. 

I think another main reason why I stayed so close to Zach and Alex is because, so far, they are the only non straight guys here. Not that I was one to make assumptions but it was pretty obvious from where I was sat. 

They were all extremely nice to look at but the way they were shoving each other around in the water made my stomach sink. I didn’t exactly wanna get caught up in all of that. 

I found myself on the edge of the pool with Zach and Alex yet my eyes kept glancing to the three boys messing around in the centre of the water. 

Monty, Diego and Charlie. 

They seemed to be the closest out of all the boys, spending almost the entire time together, yet I couldn’t help but notice Monty seemed a little out of place. 

I spoke briefly to Charlie and Diego when I arrived earlier. Well, I attempted to talk to Charlie but it was pretty hard to get a word in when he’s as enthusiastic as he is. Diego laughed at the side of him, obviously used to his bright personality taking over a conversation. 

Him and Diego seem nice though, easy to talk to but I think that’s about as far as it goes for now.

Monty was the only one I haven’t spoken to yet, not even a small exchange, but in all fairness he did wake up late. 

I’d heard plenty of him from Bryce in the past and was aware that he spends almost all of his summer hanging around here, something about a “fucked up family” that Bryce didn’t care to go into too much detail of. 

But now, seeing the purple bruises littering his shoulder, I wish I’d asked more about it. 

I’d seen photos of him from Bryces instagram, I swear I’m not a stalker, and for some reason he looks a lot different in real life. 

Different in a better way. 

Less angry. 

I saw him for the first time behind a pair of black sunglasses, yesterday afternoon, but I can’t tear my eyes away from him as he walks alongside Charlie. He makes Charlie look like a boy in comparison to him, despite the fact he’s a little bit shorter.

After we all sit in that group for a while, Bryce gathers my things and walks me over to where I’ll be staying for the next few weeks. 

It was more spacious than I expected, with a pullout couch to sleep on and a bathroom tucked away in the back corner. 

It’ll do. 

“Just so you know Monty will be staying here too,” Bryce explains, dropping my bag down onto the bed with a grunt. 

I nod at him. I think he already told me this but for some reason he feels the need to mention it again. 

“Look I tried to make him go home but he wouldn’t budge.” Bryce continues, “He’s not bad once you get used to him I promise.”

I smile at him with a nod. I’m not in any position right now to complain about where I stay or who I stay with so I just begin unpacking all my stuff. 

-

I keep my eyes on Monty all day, trying to work out what’s so bad about him that made Bryce warn me. 

Wel he didn’t exactly warn me, but I didn’t understand what he meant by his comment earlier. It was almost as if he was preparing me for the worst.

I try to get something out of Zach and Alex but I can’t work out if either of them are being serious or whether they are trying to avoid the subject.

“So what’s the deal with Monty?” I ask them both over my bottle of water, i’m trying to make it casual but I cant help but sound slightly needy. 

Alex just scoffs while Zach nudges his shoulder. I don’t miss the smile that crosses Alex’s face at the touch. 

“Nothing! He’s just a bit of an asshole at times,” Zach says, then goes back to jokingly shoving Alex to the side of him. 

I leave the lovers to it and turn to face back to the pool. 

An ‘asshole’?

I find him in the pool, currently carrying Charlie around on his shoulders with a smile plastered across his face. 

He takes him to one end of the pool then tosses him in. Charlie comes up with a scream and begins tackling a laughing Monty. 

Yeah, seems like a real asshole. 

-

Around 11ish I decide to call it a night and head into the pool house. 

I can’t exactly say I’m going to sleep but I definitely need some time to myself. 

I’m not an antisocial person but being around too many new faces for such a long period of time sort of gets to you after a while. 

Besides, Bryce and Justin had a bright idea of going to play video games and I’m certainly not going to embarrass myself on my first night here. 

I announce that i’m heading off and I see Monty falter, I’m silently hoping he decides to join me in the least appropriate way possible. I’ve only just met this guy but I can’t help the way my brain works. 

He seems to decide otherwise and chases after the other guys into the main house. I act unphased and walk off. 

Me and Monty finally had a chance to speak tonight whilst we were all gathered in the yard, sharing brief conversations with each other. 

He opened several of my beers, with his teeth by the way, and smiled at me while handing them back. 

He has a nice smile and he really doesn’t seem like an asshole to me. 

-

**Author's Note:**

> Please bare with as this is my first long fic! I hope this is okay and if any of the spanish translations are incorrect then I am really sorry. Comment any requests you want to see in the fic.  
> My instagram is @wontyzalex


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